Finally, a place to be a total ‘Bad Axe’

Behind a kung fu studio in a part of Daly City you’ve probably never been to hides Bad Axe Throwing, a recreational venue for ax throwing, which is apparently wildly popular in Canada. The Ontario-based company had planned to host a free open house throughout last weekend, but the sharp-edged fun had to be rescheduled. Daly City has yet to issue the location a business license.

“We’re gonna teach the tech world how to throw axes,” said David Klapperich, a coach and host employed by Bad Axe Throwing to guide participants through the throwing experience they’ll have once that business license shows up. Klapperich, who works full time as a utilities inspector, has been throwing axes since he discovered the hobby on a camping trip.

“It’s addictive,” he announced, his confident voice echoing through the sparse studio. Bad Axe is located in a massive, airy room in the back of Silver Dragon Kung Fu. The location is just as quirky as the hobby, a few random turns off the freeway and down a small street housing industrial buildings. One must actually walk through the kung fu studio to find Bad Axe, heading down a hallway and past a glowing religious shrine.

Bad Axe has decked out its space with Canadian-themed art by a Los Angeles-based artist whose name no one remembered. One entire wall, the one backed up against the kung fu studio, was covered in a bear-filled woods scene with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. Alongside the mural, a portrait of a lumberjack gazed forward. Opposite the art, four target lanes divided by chain-link fences dominated the far wall. This is where members of the public are given axes and told to throw them.

Each ax-throwing lane is similar to where you might throw darts at a dartboard — if a row of dartboards were 5 feet tall and divided by metal fencing. At the end of each lane hangs a rough wooden bull’s-eye. Amanda Falikowski, who’d flown in from Ontario to set up the newest Bad Axe Throwing venue, assured me that in Bad Axe’s three years of business, no one had ever sustained an injury.

“We have a very good track record,” smiled Falikowski, holding a large black ax. The company has locations throughout Canada and a handful in the United States, including in Chicago and Indianapolis.

Once Bad Axe opens in Daly City, participants can come with a few friends or have the option of renting out the entire space for $45 per person. Parties are welcome to bring their own food and non-alcoholic beverages and play ax-throwing games for a couple of hours.

Some corporate bonding events have seen employees pin their competitor’s logo to the bull’s-eye. A few even dared to stick an image of the boss up there. “I had one client who had a divorce party,” said Falikowski. The jilted husband and his friends threw axes at his ex’s face.

Usually, however, the ax throwing is more about fun competition and less about homicidal fantasies. Bad Axe Throwing has founded the W.A.T.L. (World Axe Throwing League) wherein ax-throwing enthusiasts play against each other for the grand prize of a really big ax.

“It’s like darts with blades,” Klapperich advised as we began an ax-throwing lesson.

I held a large ax (apparently available at Home Depot) over my head and then I hurled it forward. I nervously watched it flip over and over through the air toward the wall. WHACK! The blade slammed into the wooden bull’s-eye. Again and again I threw the ax, occasionally wincing as the ax bounced off the wood and crashed to the floor.

Ax throwing is harder than it looks. The blade doesn’t always hit first.

“It’s a toy,” beamed Klapperich. “But then when it hits, your immediate thought is, ‘I did that!’ And you wanna do it again.”

My immediate thought was “I can’t believe I still have all of my fingers,” but I do see his point. There is something decidedly satisfying in slamming a shiny new ax into a wooden wall. Does ax throwing have the long-term draw of bowling or miniature golf? Bad Axe Throwing is counting on it.

“It’s a safe environment,” deadpanned Falikowski. “I mean, you never know what you’re gonna get at a bar.”

Beth Spotswood is a San Francisco native who grew up in Marin County and returned to San Francisco after college in the East. She spent four years as a backstage dresser for “Steve Silver’s Beach Blanket Babylon” before signing on as a website producer for KPIX.

Spotswood’s work has been featured on KPIX, SFist, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7 Magazine, Porchlight Storytelling Series, LitQuake, Muni Diaries and the Bold Italic. She was the 2011 Reader’s Choice for 7x7 Magazine’s Hot 20 Under 40, completed classes at Second City Training Center in Chicago and is the digital editor at Alta Magazine. A Mission District resident for 15 years, Beth lives with her husband and son.